Preschool Nutrition Theme

Preschool Nutrition is just one part of the equation for healthy children. Fitness, or excercise, is also important. I was not surprised to learn that 70% of obese children or adolescents grow up to have adult obesity issues. However, the results of a recent study about preschoolers did suprise me: 1 in 5 preschoolers is obese. That is such a high number.

As early childhood educators, we have a great opportunity and responsibility to work with families to help preschoolers learn about nutrition and making healthy food choices.

It is my hope that we can help our children and families become more aware of healthy food choices that will help them to become healthy adults. This Theme page is filled with preschool activities and ideas for all areas of your classroom. It includes activities for nutrition and the food groups.

Let the Theme Planning Begin!

You can either scroll down through this page to see all of the preschool activities for your Preschool Nutrition Theme or click the link below to go to specific preschool activity types you are looking for.

Preschool Nutrition Theme Art

Materials Needed: Make "bake-able" clay with the children. Give each child a chance to add ingredients!

Mix 4 cups flour, 2 cups salt, 4 tablespoons alum.

When they are done mixing, pour in 4 1/2 cups of boiling water, 1/3 cup of baby oil and a few drops of red food coloring.

Mix and knead until the dough is soft.

Give each child a portion of dough. Have them make some figures out of them...anything is acceptable! It's all about building up those little muscles! When they are done, place items on a cookie sheet and bake at 175 degrees (farenheit) for 4-6 hours.

When completely dry, the children can decorate (with glue, sequins, glitter, etc.) or paint!

Discuss what the tools are used for in the kitchen, if any of the children have ever used them to help cook, etc. while they are painting with them! See the Kitchen Tool Identification activity under the Circle Activity section of this page.

Preschool Nutrition Theme Circle Time Ideas

Peggy Kelly is a Health Coach. She was formerly a preschool teacher and director, as well as a mentor and colleague of mine! She has put together a wonderful, affordable Preschool Nutrition training specifically for us--people who work with children. Massachusetts, and possibly some other states in the U.S., now require annual nutrition training as part of the State Childcare Licensing Regulations.

I had a difficult time finding something that was relevant for our teachers and program. She put this program together and let us know about it...it was a great training and met the state requirements!

OK, I'm done with the "shameless plug" for her training! Seriously, it's worth checking it out for you and your co-teachers to see if it meets your needs! CLICK HERE to check out her trainings!

Circle Time is such a great time for children to learn the social skills of being together as a large group AND to learn more about your Preschool Nutrition Theme!

What Did You Have For Breakfast?

Nutrition begins at home! Many parents feel very rushed in the morning and their children may not "be hungry" and therefore not eat breakfast before they arrive at school. It is important to

A) Know which children do not eat before school.B) Use that information to let families know how it affects their child's day andC) Offer suggestions for healthy, quick breakfast foods they can offer their children.

Materials Needed: Large piece of paper with each child's name listed in a column on the left; a marker

Label the chart: What I had for breakfast today

Show the children the chart and ask each child what they had for breakfast and list it.

Compare and contrast what they eat--some will eat the same types of food, some will have foods that the other children have not had!

Talk to the children about the importance of food. It gives us energy to play and work and run! However, we need healthy foods to do this. If we eat only unhealthy foods, we will be grumpy and not have very much energy.

Puppet Show! Someone's Grumpy!

Choose 2 puppets who can have a conversation with your preschoolers about nutrition and healthy foods. One of my colleagues uses 2 puppets and they typically have a "problem" that needs to be solved that we may be seeing in class! It could be not sharing, running, etc. You could use 2 puppets for this Preschool Nutrition circle time activity!

One of the puppets should have a cranky attitude and the other READY TO PLAY!

Puppet 1: I'm SO happy to be at school! What do you want to do today? Want to build a super-duper tower with blocks?

Puppet 1: Because you're hungry. It's almost snack time. How about if we BOTH make sure we eat snack and have energy and then maybe you'll feel like playing?

Puppet 2: OK! And from now on, I"m going to eat breakfast, even if I don't feel like it!

Puppet 1: Me too! Oh, I hear the teacher singing the clean up song! Let's help clean up so we can have snack!

Puppets 1 & 2: It's time to clean up, it's time to clean up we gonna have snack and eat it all up! hahaha!

Berry, Berry Funny

Preschool nutrition and fun! Absolutely! Where did a boysenberry or strawberry get its name? Hmmm...ask the children and record what they say! Bring a bunch of different types of berries to circle area and ask them! You could make a class book out of their answers!

I read somewhere that there are actually several theories about how strawberries got their name! It has been said that they got the name "straw" berries because they are grown in mulch made with straw or because they were once hung on pieces of straw for decoration.

Also, did you know there are berries that are WHITE when they are ripe? I've never seen one, but wouldn't that be cool to show the children?!!

Srawberry Song

Yummy, yummy strawberries,

So red and sweet and plump.

When I see them in my bowl,

It makes me want to jump!

I eat them very carefully,

I savor every one.

Sweet, delicious strawberries,

To me, they're number one!

Food Pyramid

Teach your preschoolers about nutrition by introducing the food pyramid.

In advance, make a large pyramid. The top triangle is for "Fats" (butter, sugar, etc.); the next row is cut into 2 equal parts (1 for dairy and one for protein--remember that eggs go with protein not dairy!);

The next row is also in 2 equal parts- 1 for fruits and one for vegetables; and the bottom row is for Grains (breads, pasta, cereal, crackers, rice).

Explain that we need foods from each of the food groups to stay healthy.

Provide pictures of foods from magazines and ask them to place them in the food pyramid chart where it belongs.

VARIATION: Here's a picture of a Food Pyramid that my co-teacher made at circle time! She gave each of the children some play food. After discussing the pyramid, they each had a turn identifying their food and where it would go on the pyramid and then placed it there!

Mystery Food Game

Materials Needed: Variety of fruits and vegetables and other foods (cooked pasta is fun!); box or bag to put them in.

Place one item in the box or bag without the children seeing you! One child places hand in and tries to guess what type of food it is.

Ask them to describe what they feel by asking questions such as:

Is it hard or soft?

Round?

Smooth or rough?

Can you guess what it is?

This activity is fun to do with every theme by using themed items. One of the challenging parts of this for preschoolers is that they want so badly to just take the item out of the box or bag without even guessing because they are so excited by the mystery of it all!

You could just let them do this once each! Then, the 2nd time around, tell them they are NOT going to take the item out. They need to leave it in the box or bag and try to guess what it is!

Kitchen Tool Identification

Materials Needed: Have many items used for cooking and preparing food in a large pot with a cover. Some suggestions: Potato masher, slotted spoons, small plastic spoons and forks, spatulas, tongs

Take one item out of the pot. Ask the children if they know what it is. Ask them what it is used for.

Continue with each item.

This is a great conversation starter about eating and preparing healthy foods. For example, a small plastic knife is used to cut bananas, slicing wheat bread, spreading foods on healthy crackers, etc.

EXTENSION: List the items on a chart as well as what the item does.

EXTENSION: Use the tools to paint with! See Kitchen Tool Painting activity under the Art section of this page.

Snack Recipe Ideas to Cook Up for Your Preschool Nutrition Theme

Have Picky Eaters? Check out my article on choosing snacks for picky eaters on The Preschool Professor by CLICKING HERE!

Cooking with children helps develop their math skills and helps them to learn how to follow directions. It also allows for some great conversation!

Ask many questions while cooking with your children to encourage conversation! Be sure to ask specific themed questions while making these fun snacks!

You can help families to offer healthier snacks by sending any recipes you make with the children home! I'd recommend making a "recipe" book throughout this theme (or throughout the year!) and send home Your Preschool's Recipe Book!

You could also share the tasting activities that you do with the children and let families know what foods their children like!

One of the things we do, is to post any charts we make in a very prominent place where the parents will see it when they pick their children up or drop them off!

You could place the chart on an easel in front of their coat cubbies or in front of the door they enter!

Rice Cake Faces This recipe was sent by Maureen of Hamden, CT and it looks delicious and fun!

In advance, create a large chart with three columns. In the first column, draw (or glue pictures) of the foods you will be tasting with the children. Label the second column "LIKE" with a smiley face. Label the third column "DON'T LIKE" with a sad face.

Have the children help you to peel and cut the foods. Discuss the importance of eating fruits and vegetables and how healthy they are for their bodies.

Ask each child if they like each food as they try it. List their name under the proper column of the chart.

EXTENSION: Have the children write their own names in the proper columns. If they are not at the point of writing their names yet, premake name cards with their names on several cards. They choose their name and place it under the correct column.

Heat the vegetable broth in a Crock Pot. Place about 1/2 cup of broth in each bowl for each child.

Place the rice and carrots in separate bowls with a serving spoon.

Supervise children as they scoop into their broth: 2 tablespoons of rice and 2 tablespoons of carrots; 3 or 4 crackers.

If possible, take pictures of each step and make a REBUS card--a picture card with words--of each step. For example, the first card should be WASH HANDS. The second should be " Add 2" with a picture of rice and a spoon on the card.

Be sure that all recycled items are clean and sanitized. For boxes (such as cereal boxes), stuff with newspaper or recycled paper and tape closed for durability. For money, instead of purchasing it, encourage children at the writing table to make their own money and print numbers on it!

I do recommend that you laminate play money as the children have the habit of crumpling it up by the fistfuls at clean up time!

Restaurant

Encourage preschool nutrition in your own restaurant. As a large group, discuss some healthy foods that could be ordered in restaurants. Make up a menu for those foods and set up your Dramatic Play area as a restaurant: table, chairs, kitchen area, etc.

Preschool Nutrition Theme Large Group Games To Help Build Your Preschoolers' Muscles While The Have Fun Together!

Pass the Egg

Materials Needed: Hard boiled eggs and one un cooked egg

Where do eggs come from? After talking about it, show the children what the inside of a hard boiled egg looks like and what an uncooked egg looks like! Then, provide a hard boiled egg in the shell to pass around the circle while music plays. When the music stops, the person who has the egg, should roll it across the circle to a friend...be careful!

In advance, write the numbers 1, 2 and 3 on several cards. Give the children a card and tell them they need to purchase that many items at the store that is on the other end of the room. However, they need to get past the obstacles to get to the store.

Have them follow the course to the "store". Once there, they need to find the number of items as listed on their cards, place the items in a bag and then follow the course back to the beginning.

Watermelon Roll

Have the children work in groups of 2 to move the watermelon across a room. BUT, they can only use one hand each, not two!

Of course, have some watermelon as a snack when done!

Fruit, Fruit, Vegetable!

Teach your children this version of Duck, Duck Goose! Change the name depending upon which food you are learning about (Grain, Grain, Dairy; etc.)

Preschool Nutrition Theme Math & Manipulatives Activities

Activities To Help your Preschoolers Develop Their Math Skills and Those Small Muscles in Their Hands!

5-A-Day Count this Way!

Provide real fruits and vegetables. Have work on their one-to-one correspondence by counting out 5 from the group of food provided. We all need 5 a day to stay healthy!

EXTENSION: Provide other play foods that promote preschool nutrition as well that are not fruits and vegetables. Ask them to count out 5 items that are in the fruit/vegetable food group. Allow them to also classify foods in other ways: colors, shapes, etc.

How Many Worms

OK, so worms are not part of a balance preschool nutrition plan, but apples are!

I'm not sure where we found this activity, but here it is!

Make 10 apple shapes. Hole punch a different number of holes in each apple. Make ten apple basket shapes, each with a numeral on it (1-10).

Encourage the children to count the number of "worm holes" in an apple and then place it on the corresponding number.

Cereal Necklaces

Materials: Round cereal with holes in the middle, yarn

Provide a bowl of HEALTHY cereal for the children to string (and eat)...remember, this is about nutrition- that means NO sugared cereals (like Apple Jacks, Fruit Loops, etc); only healthy foods! As always, check for allergies before having this activity ready.

On the bottom of the boxes, cut a large hole out for a mouth and draw eyes, a nose and add hair. Make Harriet's face a happy smiley mouth and Gordon's a sad mouth.

As the children pick up each food, they should determine if it is healthy or unhealthy. Healthy foods go into Harriet's mouth and unhealthy into Gordon's.

Food Sorting Activity

Ingredients and Items Needed: Precut and laminated pictures of foods from magazines and catalogs; 2 bowls to place them in (one with a smiley face in the bowl that reads "Healthy" and the other bowl with a sad face that reads "Unhealthy")

Children sort the foods into the bowls based on whether the food is healthy or not.

EXTENSION: Children can sort by food group as well. Have bowls for each food group-dairy, fruit, vegetables, grains, etc.

Preschool Nutrition Activities for Your Sand and Water Table!

Bubble Bonanza

Materials Needed: Egg beaters and wire whisks!

Place some dish detergent in your water table and provide egg beaters and whisks as well as bowls. You could also add a squirt of yellow food coloring or paint to represent eggs! They can serve up some "Preschool Nutrition Bubbles"!

Planting

Add soil to your sensory table. Provide play food items that grow in the ground and items for your children to plant them with!

Spray the pans with the cooking spray. Place the frozen dough in the pans. Cover with waxed paper. Check on dough throughout the day as it rises! The children will be very excited at how much it rises! Bake it for the next day's snack.

EXTENSION: Have a ruler handy to measure how high it gets! I've placed a paper on the wall behind the pan and marked the rising as well!

Pass the carrots around so the children can touch and check out the entire carrot. Encourage them to touch, smell and discuss what they notice about them. Explain that the part we eat, the orange part, grows UNDER the ground...it is actually the ROOT of the plant! The green part is the part we would see on top of the soil!

Have the children put soil in their cup and then some carrot seeds. Put them in a sunny area and have the children check on their seeds each day.

EXTENSION: A great introduction to this activity is the story The Carrot Seed by Ruth Krauss.

EXTENSION: Show and help the children to peel the carrots that you have shown them! Then use a grater to grate the carrot. Mix in some vanilla yogurt, raisins and perhaps crushed pineapple to make Carrot Salad!

Peas in a Pod

Materials Needed: Fresh pea pods, paper and crayons.

Let the children open and manipulate a pea pod! They can eat it if they want to try it. Encourage them to draw about this investigation!

Milk a Cow

Materials Needed: A non latex glove, a common pin, watered down white paint.

Fill the fingers of a glove with watered down white paint. Poke a small pinhole in the tips of a few of the fingers. Tie off the glove.

Hold it while the children squeeze the fingers as they squeeze the "udders" of the cow for the milk to come out.

The Need for Water

Materials Needed: A few tall, clear plastic cups; food coloring; celery; large pitcher of water

Place a few drops of food coloring in each cup (use a different color in each cup). Ask children what they think will happen.

Explain the importance of water to things that grow. Without it, they would get to dry.

Explain that as people, we grow and therefore we need water as well! Give each child a cup of water as you discuss what needs water, why and your impending science experiment with the celery!

Check the celery each day for changes. It does take several days before any color begins to show in the celery.

An interesting note that we found last year: We used blue food coloring and red food coloring in different cups with celery. Once the celeries had absorbed a lot of color, the children wanted to keep them both in the water to see what would happen. We had them out at the science table for almost a month! What we notices is that the RED celery actually began to wilt, turn brown and pretty much die but the blue one was fine. We pondered that result and decided red is not good food coloring for celery.

As teachers, we decided there must be something to the concerns with red food dye.

In advance, make a My Preschool Nutrition and Healthy Food Book for each child. Simply stable several pieces of plain paper together covered by construction paper.

Encourage the children print their name on the front cover.

The children should look through the magazines and cut out the healthy foods they see that they like to eat and glue them on their pages. For printing practice, have index cards premade with pictures and the words of each healthy food so that children can write in their books the foods they like as well.

If I were a Food...

At the writing table, encourage the children to draw a story about what type of food they would be if they could! As they are drawing, ask them to tell you their story. Begin it with, "If I could be a food, I would be ______________. I would....." Have them fill in the rest! Staple their story to their pictures and read them at your next large group/circle time!

Contact a local farm, dairy farm or grocery store to set up a field trip!

Preschool Nutrition Theme Classroom Visitors

There are many opportunities with a Preschool Nutrition Theme for visitors to your classroom! Survey parents for opportunities as well as your local community! Some ideas for visitors:

Dietitian

Nurse

Grocer

Farmer

Chef/cook

Preschool Nutrition Theme HEALTHY FOOD PARTY!

In advance, send a note home to families to bring in a healthy food that they like to eat at home such as a fruit, vegetable, bread, etc.

The children should help you to prepare their food and "display" it on a plate for snack time! Make this a very special event by setting the table with a tablecloth, special plates, etc.!

EXTENSION: Make a chart (you know I LOVE charts!) that lists each food in a column. Have a 2nd column labeled I LIKE IT and a 3rd labeled I DON'T LIKE IT. Precut out each child's name as many times as you have foods so that they can tape their name next to each food!

Preschool Nutrition Theme Family Project

Send a note home asking families to send in their favorite healthy family recipe. Put them together to make a Class Family Recipe Book

Preschool Nutrition Resources

Many organizations have information to help teach preschoolers about nutrition. Here are a few I have found.